Kolkata Little Magazine Library And Research Center

Background

Kolkata has a prominent place in the history of Little Magazine Movement in India which was largely dominated by Bengali language magazines. This goes back to the foundation of Sabuj Patra in 1914 and Kallol in 1923. The tradition continued with the advent of Post Modernist writing in Bengali Literature. With the arrival of Krittibash, Hungry Generation and periodicals like Kourab many little magazines started to flourish. But there was never a comprehensive preservation attempt made for these immensely valuable cultural items either in the academic or public libraries.

Foundation

In 1972,when Sandip Dutta (Then 21 and a student of Scottish Church College in Kolkata majoring in Bengali ) visited the National Library looking for little magazines he found out how they were kept in a condition of utter neglect. According to Dutta he was “shown a heap of books tied in bundles, with more dust and worms in them than pages.” Such poor maintenance of periodicals led Dutta, already a little magazine enthusiast at that time, to decide to establish a library dedicated solely to the purpose of collecting and preserving little magazines and promoting their cause. From 27 to 30 September 1972 Dutta held an exhibition of 750 little magazines in protest at his own residence. In 1976 when Calcutta Book Fair started Little Magazines participated in it and Dutta was one of the participants. The Library was born on June 23, 1978 and was called “Library and Laboratory for Bengali Little Magazines” ( “Bangla Samoyikpatra Pathagar O Gobeshona Kendro” ). It was established in the ground floor of Dutta’s two storey ancestral home at 18M Tamer lane off College Street book market. Even now it consists of only two rooms at this place. The library became open for public membership on May 8, 1979.It was officially registered in 1996 and then officially renamed” Kolkata Little Magazine Library and Research Center”.

Funds And Budget

As from the very beginning the library was founded on the efforts of one individual Dutta faced financial constraints. So he made a piggy bank and names it “Three Penny Opera” after Bertolt Brecht’s famous play of the same name. He also consistently set aside a part of his personal income. Currently the library has an annual budget of approx. Rs 15,000.

Members

Currently Little magazine Library has over 150 members, of whom more than 50 are members for life. There are at least 10-12 visitors to the library on a daily basis. Members come from all spheres of the society. There are students, professionals, research scholars, authors, journalists who consult the library on a regular basis. Notable personalities who have consulted Little Magazine Library include poet Joy Goswami and author Mahasweta Devi. According to the website of the library website readers come from other parts of India and neighbouring Bangladesh as well.

Collection

Sandip Dutta’s library began functioning with a modest collection of about one thousand and five hundred little magazines. Currently there are almost Sixty Thousand experimental, radical,alternative and avant-garde periodicals and little magazines in the collection. There are two thousand books of poetry as well. Most of the collection is in Bengali but there books and periodicals in other languages as well, including English and Hindi. Subjects range from literature to broader disciplines of social science and humanities. In all, there are more than Four thousand books in the library. It has a reading room where up to 15 people can study together at a time. Library has many rare periodicals which are out of print or hard to find anywhere else. Prominent little magazines in the library include Sabuj Patra (founded by Pramatha Chaudhuri), Kallol, Langol (whose contributors included Mujaffar Ahmed and Kazi Nazrul Islam), Sanghati, Pragati, Mayukh, Kali Kalam, Parichay, Bangalaxmi, Nabayug, Dhumketu, Nachghar, Bangashree, Purbasha (published from Tripura), Kobita and Chaturanga (bot9h edited by Buddhadeb Bosu), Arani, Samasamoyik, Galpabharati, Prama, Ekshan (edited by Nirmalya Acharya and actor Soumitra Chatterjee), Uttarsuri, Bartaman, Satabdi (edited by Biren Mukherjee), Bhabishyat (edited by Shubho Tagore), Uccharan, Darshak, Anik, Nandimukh, Kobita Parichay, Chatushkon, Krittibash (edited by Sunil Gangopadhyay and Dipak Majumdar), Anustup (founded and edited by Anil Acharya), Kolkata, Nabanno, Shatabhisha, Golpo O Kobita, Kourab, Dhrupadi, Kobita Saptahiki (edited by poet Shakti Chattopadhyay) etc. There are some rare Hungry Generation pamphlets and periodicals too in the collection.

Further Effort

Little Magazine library was the main organiser of All India Little Magazine Conference in Kolkata in 1993 and Santali Dogra writers workshop in 2000. It also conducts bibliography of essays published on various little magazines. It organizes two awards: one for best little magazine and other for an eminent literary personality called Saraswata Award). Sandip Dutta has organized many seminars and exhibitions all over India to spread awareness about little magazines. The research centre itself publishes a little magazines titled Ujjwal Uddhar which reprints old and rare articles of relevance from older little magazines. In 2008, the library received a grant of Rs 500,000 to digitise its collection. As of now Prama, Ekshan, Parichay and Bangadarshan have been preserved digitally. Dutta, a distinguished intellectual, has written a book and published several articles for various publications on the evolution and history of little magazines. His library is a regular participator in Kolkata Book Fair, the Little Magazine Mela and other book fairs across the state.